


Second String

by phoenixgal



Series: Scenes from a Life [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Arguing, Bisexual Ginny Weasley, Bisexuality, F/F, F/M, Family Dinners, Quidditch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-10-08 19:39:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10394589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixgal/pseuds/phoenixgal
Summary: Ginny tries to balance the relationships in her life and the expectations of her family and the world around her with what she actually wants.





	

“Come on, second string,” Alicia teased. “Catch me if you can.”

Ginny took a deep breath and increased her pace trailing after the older woman, seeing Alicia's sleek, black hair shaking as she ran. Her broom banged heavily on her back and she longed to get to the next stage of the course. For now though, she was determined to catch up with Alicia. She had to if she was going to have any chance of coming close to Gwenog's course record, set almost two decades before.

Running this far was almost like meditating, Ginny thought, at least when Alicia or Liz or the other Harpies weren't ribbing her. She could get a sort of wonderful quiet in her head when she ran the course like this.

By the time they got to the water and could jump on their brooms, she had several yards on Alicia. Ginny looked back and stuck out her tongue with a breathless laugh as she began soaring over the water at a tremendous speed.

Over the water, Ginny's Nimbus carried her beautifully but Alicia's brand new Needletail had the edge. Within a mile, she had caught up with Ginny and slammed her from the side. Ginny flew right back into her, feeling the soreness in her shoulder that would inevitably turn into a bruise later.

Alicia, laughing, pummeled her right back and then, as she dipped their brooms low enough to hit the edge of the lake, the brooms abruptly lost speed, their charms not meant to get wet. Ginny lost her grip and fumbled at the back of Alicia's broom, taking her down with her, both of them splashing into the cold water.

“You tosser!” Alicia exclaimed. “I got water up my nose.”

“I'm never going to beat the record if you keep taking me down!” Ginny complained, though she was laughing.

“Just us two today,” Alicia said, turning to float on her back and letting her broom hover slightly above. “Gwen wouldn't have counted it.”

“Yeah, I suppose,” Ginny said. “Race you to shore!” She gave her broom a nudge so it would coast to the edge of the lake then took off swimming.

“I'm pants in the water,” Alicia complained, but did her best to chase Ginny down.

When Alicia caught back up with her on the shore, Ginny was seated on the dock, breathing heavily, her legs outstretched and toes dangling in the water.

Alicia crawled up the dock between her legs and straddled her lap.

“I guess there are advantages to just us today,” Ginny said with a grin, letting Alicia kiss her and running her hands up to her dark hair. “You look lovely all drenched.” She ran fingers down Alicia's arms and watched her caramel skin become covered in tiny pimples.

“So do you, freckles,” Alicia said, kissing Ginny again.

Ginny felt exhausted and exhilarated. As their kissing intensified, she felt Alicia press her down onto the wooden landing dock and grind their crotches together. She groaned.

“Not here, love,” she said. “Equipment room should be empty today.”

They raced again down the path, past the Harpies' quidditch pitch to the building that housed the locker rooms and the equipment. This time Alicia won. By the time Ginny open the door, Alicia was flinging the mats down on the hard floor and had started stripping off her sodden workout gear.

Ginny followed, not bothering to leave anything on. It was all wet, so it all needed to go.

Alicia watched her without trying to hide what she was doing. “New bruises to go with your new do,” she said. She brushed Ginny's new short bangs, still dripping wet, out of her face and to the side. Her hair was cropped super short. Half the team had theirs similarly short and Ginny hoped it looked cute as she still wasn't used to it. She went to wash it in the showers and kept finding nothing to pull up and wash. She glanced down at her hip, where a large black and blue injury, yellowed at the edges had welled up.

“Bludger at practice two days ago. I used dittnay, but you know how they pop up again.” Ginny shrugged. She'd been learning in the last few months how most of the Harpies kept their scrapes and hurts to show the world how tough they were. She rather liked doing it too. She had looked at the dittany that morning and not bothered, even though this bruise was somewhere hidden. Still, she had known Alicia would probably see it.

“I can kiss it and make it better.”

“Your kisses are magic now, are they?” Ginny teased.

“They always have been.”

Then they were kissing. Ginny teased at Alicia's breasts, squeezing then lowering her head to tongue light brown nipples to a point and bury her face in the crevasse between her breasts. They were larger than her own and she was endlessly fascinated by their largeness as well as how firm yet soft they were. She licked between them and then mouthed up the side of one then the other.

“I've never been with a girl who had a breast fetish,” Alicia teased after a few minutes.

Ginny felt herself blush. She had never before noticed anyone else's breasts much. But the minute she and Alicia started this, she had found herself oddly interested in all the very feminine parts of her new lover and how they differed from herself.

She pressed her own chest against Alicia's and pulled back up for a long kiss. They rolled like that for awhile, teasing, laughing, touching.

And then Alicia's fingers were reaching up between her legs and stroking. Ginny sighed and rolled back onto the mats and let herself be touched and passive. Alicia was so good at this. She couldn't even bring herself to orgasm as fast as Alicia could these last weeks.

Alicia's knowing fingers pushed her folds aside and plunged into her, crooking up and in. Then she leaned down and suckled at Ginny's clit hard and intense for a brief second. Ginny moaned and raised her hips. Alicia backed off then, keeping the pressure of her fingers moving in and out while alternating licking and sucking the nub of nerves at the center of Ginny's pleasure.

She came within a couple of minutes at most, panting, clinching herself around Alicia's fingers and letting out a long, ragged cry.

Alicia raised her head, a smirk playing on her face, her dark braid still dripping wet. “Ginevra Weasley, you make the best noises when you come.”

Part of Ginny wanted to be finished, but she took a deep breath and began to return the favor. She was still learning how to make Alicia cry out in joy and it always took her longer. Alicia liked to be roughly entered and used. Ginny had now gotten to use various toys, including a charmed strap on, but in the equipment room, she was left with only her hands. She started with three fingers squeezed together and watched as Alicia clenched on her over and over again, letting the pleasure build up. She rested her head on her lover's thigh and just watched for a little while, as if she might divine the exact places to touch. She could see the muscles move around her fingers. When she smeared wetness to the outside, she didn't think it was her imagination that Alicia's clit seemed more flushed and larger.

It took her awhile, but by the time Alicia cried out and arched her back, Ginny was poised over her, thrusting against the back of her own wrist where her fingers joined with her teammate. She was desperate to come again and ended up rubbing herself as Alicia lazily watched, fingering one nipple and resting her head on Ginny's shoulder so she could kiss her ear.

“Merlin and Morgan, I'm going to be sore tomorrow,” Ginny complained a little while later, as she stretched and picked up her still wet clothes.

“It was your idea to use our day off to work out,” Alicia said, but she didn't sound annoyed. “Come on, there's no one in the offices to see us. We can just walk to the locker rooms naked.”

Ginny giggled, but she did as Alicia suggested, poking her head out to make sure the coast was still clear.

They each found their dry clothes and dressed on opposite ends. Ginny had one of the newest lockers and benches near the back as a new second string chaser while Alicia had a better spot at the front, having been on the team for a couple of years already.

“Want to come back to mine for supper?” Alicia asked. “I was thinking of going to the Muggle bars since we have one more day off. Come get pissed with me and we'll do something stupid.”

“Can't,” Ginny replied. “I have things.”

“Things, huh?” Alicia said, and Ginny didn't miss the annoyance in her voice.

“What?” she asked, grabbing her bag and crossing the locker room.

When she got there, she could see a copy of the people section of the Prophet sitting open on the bench. A photo of her standing on the sidelines at their last match graced the top of the section.

“Harry Potter's girlfriend gets a new look. But is she too boyish now?” Alicia read from the headline. “You're not even a person to them. You're an accessory.”

“You have to let it roll off you,” she said, quoting Harry. “I try just not to look at it.”

“And the gender crap,” Alicia sneered at the paper. “Going on about how you look like a boy and are playing a man's game.”

“Don't even tell me,” she said, looking away from the paper. “I'll just get angry.”

“Good! You should be angry. I'm telling you, Gin, it's holding you back.”

“What do you mean?”

“All the media rubbish. If Gwenog promotes you to first string when Elsie steps down, she'll take heat for having done it just for your name. If she doesn't, she'll take heat for that.”

Ginny knew what she meant, but she also knew it was out of her control. “But there's nothing I can do about it.”

“Bollocks there is. Why are you even still with him? Dump him.”

Ginny slung her bag over her shoulder and went to the door, annoyed herself now. “We have talked about this already. And besides, it wouldn't do any good. If Harry and I split, I'd be the girl who dumped the Boy Who Lived. I'd still be fodder for them.”

She was angry now, but Alicia followed her out the door and then down the hall and back out by the pitch.

“You're off to meet him now, aren't you?”

Ginny spun around. Alicia stood by the door, hands on her hips.

“So what if I am?”

“So,” Alicia said. 

“Really, Aly, I don't know. I've been nothing but honest about where things stand. I like this between us. But I made it clear that I'm not about to leave Harry. And you don't really want to be in the papers for sleeping with me.”

“I wouldn't mind,” she said. “You're the one who's embarrassed to be queer.”

“I'm not embarrassed,” Ginny said.

“Then kiss me in the middle of Diagon Alley some time. Or after a game while the Prophet is here snapping photos.”

“You know I can't do that!”

“Because you're a closet case!”

It stung in part because she feared it was true. And because part of her wanted to snog Alicia right in the middle of Hogsmeade or in the center of the Ministry. Somewhere where everyone could see. There was a part of her that was falling in love with her.

“Fuck you!” Ginny yelled.

“That's what you're afraid to tell everyone!” Alicia countered.

Ginny let out an angry noise. “We'll talk about this tomorrow. I'm going to be late for a family supper if I don't apparate now.” And then she left.

When she popped into the field outside the Burrow, she saw Harry sitting on the stump, reading a Muggle book, obviously waiting for her.

“I see you got a shower after practice,” he said, looking at her still damp hair.

“Pushed into the lake by Aly, actually,” Ginny corrected.

Harry raised his eyebrows. “Sounds fun.”

“Hmph,” Ginny said and passed by him, stalking toward the house.

Harry bookmarked his place with his wand then stood up, hurrying after her. “Everything all right?”

“Fine,” she said shortly.

These family suppers were both wonderful and horrible in that they reminded Ginny of being a kid. On the one hand, it was family, which to her meant warm, loving chaos. On the other hand, she hated being treated like a child and her oldest brothers and parents seemed intent on doing that. Ron was especially annoying since he and Hermione had married the previous fall. He acted like he was the adult and she was the child even though they were only a bit more than a year apart in age.

Thank goodness Ron wasn't there for this family meal. Harry had told her he was junior on a case that had taken him out of the country somewhere. Hermione was somehow managing to study a pile of magical law enforcement books even though Victoire and Teddy were running in circles around the sofa. Bill and Fleur were both there, but Percy was without his girlfriend, who had a family commitment of her own, and Charlie was in America and wouldn't be back for another full year.

Harry walked into the living room and grabbed Teddy as he dashed past Hermione, knocking a pile of notes to the floor. He lifted him above his head and made growling noises. Teddy squealed with laughter.

“Oh, Harry, thank goodness,” her mum said. “He's been driving all of us batty since his grandmother dropped him off for you.”

“He's been fine, Mum,” Bill said. “Three year-olds are allowed to be enthusiastic.”

Ginny stalked over to the table where George was sitting, playing with some new contraption.

“What's eating you?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Ginny said, perhaps a little too vehemently. George raised an eyebrow at her and tossed her the little contraption, which immediately scrambled all its shapes, going from a perfect little cube to an incoherent blob.

“New puzzle series,” George said. “I think they'll be a fad next year at Hogwarts. If you solve it, it rewards you with conjured candy.”

Ginny fiddled with it until the meal happened, glad to have a distraction. Harry tried to get her to come into the garden and play with the kids. She knew he had one of those little kid brooms that wouldn't fly more than a couple of feet despite the fact that Andromeda had tried to forbid Teddy from riding it. She begged off though, saying training had her knackered, which was true, but also an excuse.

Her head was going round and round about Alicia. Why did she have to disrupt things like that? She had run away, but it was only delaying the inevitable. She had seen the look in Aly's eyes. Their affair was over unless she left Harry. Ginny scowled.

“Watch it, sis,” Bill said. “Your face will freeze like that if you're not careful.”

“Shove off,” she said, trying to make her voice casual, but not quite succeeding.

Bill raised his hands to show he was backing off and she rolled her eyes. She knew she was snipping at everyone, but she didn't want to be treated like she was snipping at everyone.

The meal was pleasant enough, even if Harry kept shooting her unsure glances and no one said much to her. She and some of the other players had committed to eating the special diet Gwenog Jones swore by, but going home for the evening meant getting to cheat a little so she loaded up on pasties and roast and skipped the salad for once.

As they ate dessert things turned sour when her mum, who had never seemed to be able to let go of the importance of appearances in the papers, brought up the same story about her new haircut that Alicia had brought up.

“I just don't know why you had to chop it all off,” she repeated over and over during a rambling tirade about how pretty Ginny had been with her long locks. Ginny kept trying to insert how it was so much more practical now that she was a professional athlete, but it was like her mother couldn't even hear her.

“I think it looks great,” Harry said to her quietly.

“Short hair like that, pixie cuts and so forth are much more common among Muggle women these days,” Hermione tried to add.

“It does look a little boyish,” Percy said.

“So?” Ginny demanded, feeling her face redden.

“Well, just, you know, Ginny, how there are rumors about some of the girls on the Harpies,” Percy said.

Ginny felt all the anger in her burst forth. “Are you saying I'm queer, Percy?” she practically yelled.

Everyone at the table looked shocked. “Just calm down now,” her father inserted quickly. “There's no need… I'm sure Percy wasn't saying that. Just pointing out...”

“So what if I was?” Ginny wailed. “Why would it matter? Would you disown me if I was sleeping with a girl?”

Her father and Percy both sputtered slightly. Fleur lifted Victoire from her booster seat and told her it was time to practice the potty.

Harry reached across the gulf between them to squeeze her arm slightly, but she wrenched herself out of it and pushed back from the table, not bothering to clear her plate.

It was Bill who found her sitting in the back end of the garden on the bench beyond the storage shed, carefully lining up the bristles on the old Cleansweeps and snapping off the broken ones.

“Who would have thought you'd be the Weasley to end up playing professionally,” he said conversationally.

Ginny bit back a remark about girls and quidditch and just said, “Well, you all put me on a broom when I was a baby. And then none of you were good enough. Someone had to do it.”

Bill pulled up one of the tattered wooden lawn chairs to sit across from her. “You need to talk?”

“No,” she scowled. “Bloody Prophet and their shite reporting.”

“Right.”

“Aly and I… Alicia Spinnet, you know she plays chaser. We got in a fight about it earlier.”

“About what?”

“That fucking article. And about Harry. And… things.” 

“Things?”

Ginny wanted to kick herself. She was a bloody coward, just like Alicia had said. Ginny could never stand being cowardly. “She thought I should dump Harry and be sure to snog her on camera next time there was a game.”

“Oh,” Bill said. “And that's something you'd…?”

Ginny shrugged.

“Oh. So. You… Merlin, Percy is the worst brother ever, isn't he? His ability to put his foot in it is like the gift that keeps on giving.”

She snorted slightly.

“So you're actually...” her oldest brother left the sentence dangling. Ginny noticed he didn't seem able to say it outright.

“Yeah, I like to snog girls,” Ginny said.

Bill stood up and crossed over to the bench, sitting and wrapping his thick arms around her. “Anything you are is fine by me, Sis,” he said.

Ginny sighed. She felt the wind go out of her anger a little so she dropped the old broom and hugged him back.

“I just… Don't get me wrong… but what about Harry?” Bill asked as he released her.

“What about me?”

Harry had come around to the back of the shed, sporting a long streak of what looked like chocolate ice cream stains on his shirt. He followed Ginny's glance down and sighed, pulling out his wand and doing a cleaning spell. “Children are messy. Teddy attacked me with dessert.”

“I've been there,” Bill said. He glanced uneasily at Ginny.

“Fleur's got both the kids,” Harry said. “I hate to give up my weekend, but I thought maybe Ginny and I should talk and I could come get him in the morning. If you don't mind. Fleur said it would be fine. I'd call Dromeda, but she was planning a weekend in Scotland and I hate to interrupt.”

“Yeah, no problem, mate,” Bill said. “Come around whenever you're ready. We can watch him all weekend if need be.”

“No need,” Harry said. “Thanks though.”

Ginny watched as Bill gave her a clouded look and left them alone.

“What's with that?” Harry asked, gesturing back toward Bill as he took his place on the bench.

“I came out to him and now he's probably convinced I'm about to break your poor heart.”

Harry's eyes widened. “Oh. Sorry to interrupt, I guess?”

“It's all right.”

“Are you?”

“Am I what?”

“About to break my heart?”

Ginny shrugged. “No. I guess not.”

“Well that's a ringing endorsement of our love.”

“Don't tease,” she said. “Not when...”

“You and Aly have a fight again?” he asked.

“Was it that obvious?”

“From the moment you apparated into the field.”

Ginny closed her eyes. “She called me a coward.”

“Oh.”

They were silent for a little while, then Harry said. “I know we agreed to… to keep up appearances through good times and bad, just because your family and the press and all are just a lot to deal with otherwise. But if you need to break up… I mean… I can understand.” He sounded dejected.

“Morgan's tits, Harry!” she said, feeling her fury rise again for totally different reasons. “Did I say I wanted to break up?”

“No,” Harry said. “But you never say anything. You just… go off and screw other people and pretend it's normal.”

Ginny kicked the last tuft of grass at her feet, dislodging it. “Maybe I want you to fight for me sometimes.”

Harry snorted slightly. “I'm not going to treat you like a damsel in distress. Especially not when I know you're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself.”

“That's not…! You!” Ginny shot back. “Don't make it like that. Not when I'm in there dealing with fucking Percy calling me a lesbian because of a fucking haircut!”

“You know what I want,” Harry said. “And I'm not going to wait forever.”

“Then stop waiting. Go sleep with some other people yourself. I don't know if I'll ever be ready for marriage and kids and all that domesticity. I don't want...” She trailed off.

“You don't have to be your mother,” he said.

“I didn't say that,” she snapped.

“I could practically hear you thinking it.”

“Fuck!” she screamed. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

A garden gnome popped out from behind the shed, making both of them jump slightly. Harry took a deep breath.

“I don't want to break up,” Ginny said. “But I don't want Alicia to break up with me either! And I don't know why I can't… why do I have to choose anyway? And… she called me a fucking closet case!”

“Did telling Bill help?”

“No,” she snapped. “Or, yes. I don't know. Now I have to deal with him thinking that I'm using you to hide or something.”

“You think I wouldn't get the same thing if...” Harry trailed off.

“See!” she said. “There! I wish you wouldn't… Sometimes I think you just stay with me because I'm safe and easy. You don't have to go figure anything out, figure out who you really want to be sleeping with. Go shag some bloke and see if you like it. Go screw some Muggle girls and sow some wild oats. Stop thinking it has to be me or nothing. I'm not your cowardly backup plan.”

“It can't be because I actually love you and want to sleep with you?”

Ginny stood up and kicked the bench. “Sometimes I wish I didn't love you so much.”

Harry stood up too and grabbed her. “I cleared the night for us. Come back to Grimmauld Place with me.”

Ginny put her head on his shoulder and let him wrap his arms around her. “Sex won't fix anything.”

“It can't hurt. Come on. Is this fighting for you enough?”

She snorted. She knew how it would be. He waited for her to start everything. Usually she got off on the feeling of power in telling him what to do and having him do it. At that moment, with everything inside her in turmoil, she wished someone would tell her what to do for once.

Harry kissed her neck. “I do love you, Gin.”

She sighed. “I hate you, Harry.” He gave her a look and she rolled her eyes and grabbed him to kiss him. It was a reassuring kiss, moving from lips closed lightly on each other to mouths opened and bodies pressed.

“Come on,” he said.

He grabbed her hand and led her back into the house to collect her training bag and his own book, as well as the box of leftovers her mum had wrapped up for him. She ignored the looks everyone was giving her. She wasn't sure how Harry ever did it. He ignored the media, he ignored her family's odd looks. She was never sure if he was just that good at letting everything roll off him or if he somehow managed to actually be oblivious, but either way, she envied his laissez-faire attitude.

Bill and her father were deep in conversation by the fireplace. “Look out for yourself, right, little sister?” Bill said, looking concerned.

“I'm fine, Bill,” she said quietly as she gave him a quick hug. “Harry and I are fine too.”

“You really don't have to stay with him just because...” Bill started, but Ginny pulled away. She should never have started this conversation. “Everything's fine, Bill. I'll come talk to you later this week if you like.”

He nodded but still looked concerned. Unlike Percy or Ron or even Charlie when he was around, Bill and George were the brothers who usually didn't try to posture on her behalf. She probably owed him a longer conversation.

“Thanks, Arthur,” Harry said with his mild expression then stepped into the Floo.

“Bye, Dad,” Ginny said. She could see her father had his bewildered look on and her heart sank. She followed Harry into the Floo and tried not to think about it.

It had been an absurdly long day. The sun was going down and the shadows played on the walls at Grimmauld Place. She knew this place meant a lot to Harry, and he had really done an amazing job fixing it up, but she wasn't sure if it would ever feel like home to her. Even with a bedroom and playroom for Teddy, a room that could really only now be called the shrine to quidditch that was stacked with brooms and supplies and lined with posters, including hers, and a sitting room filled with soft, very modern Muggle furniture, there was a sort of stuffiness to the house that Ginny always felt. She spent a lot of time there and Harry had urged her to let go of her shabby flat that she shared with a couple of her teammates, but Ginny knew her parents wouldn't completely flip out. She had to marry him before she moved in.

Harry went to check on Kreacher while she made her way upstairs. Only in Harry's household could you end up with a house elf who needed to be tended instead of the other way around. Harry thought the old elf would likely die in the next year or so.

Ginny made her way to the big bedroom and stretched out on the bed. She was half asleep when Harry finally came in.

“Training knocking you out?” he asked.

She made a noise of agreement, huffing into the pillow below her face. The day was catching up to her.

Harry's hands touched her side. “Want me to rub?”

“Merlin, yes,” she muttered, moving out of her sprawl and letting herself be plastered face down, limbs outstretched.

She had pulled off her trousers, but left on everything else. Harry's hands slid under her loose shirt. “Off?” he asked.

She grumbled but got to her elbows and pulled it over her head then flopped back down. She felt his fingers slide over her back and then unhook her bra, pushing the straps aside.

“Can I get the dittany for these bruises or are they the kind that are meant to fester for some reason?” Harry asked.

He never seemed to get the whole toughness routine and prodded her about it a good bit. “Just heal them,” she said.

She felt warmth spread over her hip as he silently spelled the bruise to heal. And then his hands were rubbing the dittany laced rub into her muscles and she groaned with relief. He had strong hands and he worked the medicine into her, deeply pressing thumbs into her shoulders and working his way all the way down along her spine. He dug into the muscles that led to her arse and then went back up again and back down, massaging her hips that were sore from running.

The covers ruffled and he rearranged himself so that he could rub each foot. She felt the tingle of the tiny dose of magical relaxation and healing in the lotion and sighed. He kept going up her legs, easing the ache of pushing herself to run and climb and swim and fly faster than she ever did before.

“You're beautiful, Gin,” he murmured as he reached the backs of her thighs and massaged out the tension of the day.

She parted her legs slightly and he took the invitation, changing his massage from digging into her weary muscles to stroking lightly at the insides of her thighs. He almost seemed content to just keep doing that all night, running his fingers along the edges of her knickers and along the curve of her arse.

She got impatient before he did.

She was pleased to see that he was mostly naked already. He must have stripped when he moved to massage her feet.

“Take off your shirt and pants,” she ordered, pulling off her own slightly dampened knickers.

He was hard already, so she pinned his wrists to the bed and straddled him, rubbing against his erection and feeling herself get wetter and more aroused. Harry closed his eyes and thrust toward her. He looked blissed out, perhaps just relieved that they were about to make love.

She released a wrist, which he immediately brought to her breast, gently squeezing and thumbing at her nipple. She used her hand to bring him inside her and then grabbed his hand, pressing it back to the bed and sinking down on him, grinding their pelvises together hard.

Harry moaned and opened his eyes. In the dim lamplight, she could see the intensity of his green eyes gazing up at her. It had taken them a few times to really enjoy sex together, but they had a rhythm now and at this moment, as Ginny found her groove and Harry looked up at her, she always felt like she owned a part of his soul, so intense was his look. It made her shudder with pleasure every time.

She rode him like that for several minutes, but it didn't take long. His orgasm tore through him and his hips rose to thrust deeper inside her as he called her name. She rolled off and let him finish her with fingers and kisses.

And then, as Harry always did as soon as he could after climax, he fell asleep soundly, wrapping his arms around her and saying he loved her.

Part of her wished she wasn't still drawn to him like a moth to the flame. She worried that it was a childhood crush that she didn't know how to let go of. She worried that if she accepted his proposal, she wouldn't ever get to be herself, she'd always be Harry Potter's wife. She didn't know if they'd ever satisfy each other in bed. They both had so many wants that they hadn't figured out yet. He was so hurt by all the things that happened in the war. She felt too young. She worried they would do nothing but bicker if they ever really shared a life.

But she also knew that times like this felt like home to her. Not Grimmauld Place, but Harry. Harry's touch, Harry's kisses, Harry's body. He was hers. And she didn't know that she could live happily without him.

She snuggled into the crook between his arm and torso, resting her head on his shoulder and pushing all the busy thoughts from the day down, letting sleep wash over her.


End file.
